Posts Tagged ‘Crime’

Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is the director's celebration of Central Europe culture and fashion in the years between the World Wars, and an elegy for what was lost with the rise of fascism and communism. Set in 1932 in a fictional country called Zubrowka, the streets, military regalia and (ersatz) German names we are shown could have come from anywhere between Germany and Estonia.

Told in flashback by a man who lived it, the story of the Grand Budapest Hotel is both wildly fantastic and incredibly heartbreaking. Meet Zero Moustafa, a refugee from a war-torn land who has come to the famous European hotel to begin a better life. He signs on as Lobby Boy under the respected and enigmatic Mr. Gustave H, the concierge of the hotel and the lifeblood of every event within it. Gustave takes Zero under his wing, teaching him the secrets of a good hotelier, and becoming his fast friend. So when one of Gustave's mistresses dies, leaving behind a great fortune, the pair become blood-brothers & co-conspirators, attempting to win their share of the wealth. But it won't be easy...

Volume 2 presents a double-feature Reefer Madness (1936) and Sex Madness (1938). Both are exploitation films designed to warn teenagers and young adults of the dangers of becoming addicted to, respectively, marijuana cigarettes and the dangers of venereal disease.

Perhaps one of the most infamous exploitation films of all time, Louis J. Gasnier's 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda piece, Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children) became a midnight movie sensation in the 1960s due to its unintentionally hilarious depiction of the "dangers of marijuana." The film was designed as a warning to parents about "public enemy number one," and centers around a young man who is made to believe that he committed a murder while high on pot.

Also included on this new release from Kino Lorber is Dwain Esper's 1938 film, Sex Madness (aka Human Wreckage), a film that takes the moralistic lecturing of Reefer Madness to new heights in its crusade against extramarital sex and the scourge of gonorrhea. Featuring graphic depictions of STD wounds, and a plot about a group of teenagers whose inability to say "no" lead to life-long afflictions of venereal disease, ruining marriages and destroying their lives for one night of passion.

The Dr Mabuse series was revived in 1960 by none other than Fritz Lang (1000 Eyes Of Dr Mabuse). A total of six were released from 1960 to 1964. This is the fifth entry. It’s based on the novel “The Device” by Bryan Edgar Wallace and is written by Ladislas Fodor and Norbert Jaques.

The evil Dr. Mabuse dies in Germany but a new doctor, Dr. Pohland (Walter Rilla), takes his place as the spirit of Mabuse lives on through him. The new Dr. Mabuse enslaves people with his stolen mind-controlling camera that makes them carry out his orders.

Dr. Mabuse uses the device to inflict a crime wave in England. It's up to Major Bill Tern (Peter van Eyck) of Scotland Yard and Hamburg Inspector Vulpius (Werner Peters) to team up and crack the case. The Major is helped by his know-it-all doddering mother Gwendolyn (Agnes Windeck), who is around for comic relief.

Writer-director-cinematographer John Waters’s shocking, divinely decadent early 1973 movie is gleefully cheap, cheerful and amateurish in the Andy Warhol vein, and showcases an outrageous star turn by his friend, the divine Divine (real name Glen Milstead).

Sleaze queen Divine plays the ‘filthiest person alive’ — and that means filthy — who lives in a caravan with her crazy hippie son Crackers (Danny Mills) and her 250lb mother Mama Edie (Edith Massey). The plot has Divine fighting it out for the accolade ‘filthiest person alive’ with her challengers, the Marbles, Connie and Raymond (Mink Stole, David Lochary), a couple who impregnate female hitchhikers and sell the babies to lesbian couples.

A full-on mix of absurd and gross-out humour, this ultra-bad taste camp classic from the then outrageous gay director John Waters is hilarious for those depraved enough to share its absolutely disgusting and revolting sense of humour. Those with delicate sensibilities beware – you’ll need a strong stomach for Pink Flamingos and its comedy take on a wide range of perversions shown in explicit detail.

An angry anti-cop message flick directed and written to be subversive by angry LA based indie filmmaker Charles Burnett (“Killer of Sheep”/”To Sleep With Anger”). It’s about corruption and racism in the LAPD, and is inspired by a real incident.

J.J. is a rookie in the Sheriff's Department and the first black officer at that station. Racial tensions run high in the department as some of J.J.'s fellow officers resent his presence. His only real friend is the other new trooper, the first female officer to work there, who also suffers similar discrimination in the otherwise all-white male work environment. When J.J. becomes increasingly aware of police corruption during the murder trial of Teddy Woods, whom he helped to arrest, he faces difficult decisions and puts himself into grave personal danger in the service of justice.

A man named C.G. (Klausjurgen Wussow) finds the naked body of 17-year-old Lu (Heidelinde Weis) in the woods of Beverly Hills. Her diary shows that she wasn’t at all a young innocent woman, but a nymphomaniac. The work is a record of erotic adventures. Among her lovers were an opera singer, a rich painter, an examining magistrate, an altar boy and an emigrated Czech archaeologist. But is there also the name of the murderer? The detective Ben (Wolfgang Neuss) follows all traces...

This thriller was the first German feature to be shot after WWII as well as the first feature for German television director Michael Pfleghar. Based on a bestselling novel by Curt Goetz, Die Tote Von Beverly Hills was adapted to the screen only a few years after his death.

This film recounts Charles Dickens' classic tale of life among the poor and criminal elements in 19th century London. Expressionistic noir photography suffuses David Lean's Oliver Twist with a nightmarish quality, fitting its bleak, industrial setting.

A young boy, raised in a workhouse for orphans, is punished for insubordination by being farmed out as an apprentice to an undertaker. After much abuse, he escapes and falls in with a gang of street urchins who pick pockets on the streets of London. The wayward youths are presided over by a trio of corrupt adults, the brutal Bill Sikes, his mistress Nancy and Fagin, the criminal mastermind behind the boys' thefts. Oliver is quickly assimilated into the group but on his first foray into the teeming streets he is accused of trying to steal a man's wallet. Instead of being carted away by the police he is taken in by his intended victim who tries to educate and reform him...

Tokyo, 1954. A daring gang of thieves hijacks a joint U.S.-Japanese army train under Mt. Fuji, bringing Army cop Capt. Hanson (Brad Dexter) into the jurisdiction of local inspector Kito (Sessue Hayakawa). The crimes are actually being carried off by a gang of Yankees, ex-G.I.'s led by Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan) and his "Ichiban" Griff (Cameron Mitchell). Dawson plans their raids like military actions and never leaves wounded behind. When one man is killed, he's replaced with Eddie Spanier (Robert Stack), a hothead loner from the states who tries to muscle in on Sandy's Pachinko gambling parlors. Spanier appears to be Dawson's new favorite, much to the displeasure of Griff. There's only one problem - Eddie Spanier is really Eddie Kenner, a military policeman working as a mole inside Dawson's unit.

Vintage "ripped from the headlines" TV-series Deadline originally aired from 1959-61, dramatizing stories that were pulled straight from the headlines, standing in stark contrast to our current era of the President decrying that the media are "fake news". Back then newspaper reporters were portrayed as courageous seekers of truth and justice, heralded by the police for their bravery in digging down deep and exposing the murder, arson, mob activity, crooked politicians and other crime-related happenings. Each hard-boiled half-hour episode is introduced by Paul Stewart (Citizen Kane), then gets into each fast-paced and gripping episode.

The crimes exposed in the series run the gamut from airplane bombings, murder, theft and political corruption, sometimes detailing the steep prices paid by the journalist who wrote the stories, including having acid thrown in one reporter's face, blinding him for life!

1964. Charlottte Hollis (Bette Davis) has lived for almost forty years as a recluse in her father's Louisiana mansion. In 1927, she was the leading suspect in the beheading murder of her lover John Mayhew (Bruce Dern), a married man. Now road builders want Charlotte out of the house and Charlotte's 'poor relation' cousin Miriam Deering (Olivia de Havilland) and doctor/friend Drew Bayliss (Joseph Cotten) have come to try to get her to surrender the property without more embarrassing scenes. But Charlotte is experiencing weird hallucinations that focus on the legendary crime; and most of the parish already thinks she's insane.

The follow-up to "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" not only casts Davis once again as a shrieking, half-mad grotesque, but brings back Victor Buono too (as Charlotte’s domineering father in the prologue).